The Close of Day
by WillowVk8339
Summary: The world had officially ended, and in the midst of the apocalypse you learned what it took to survive or you didn't survive at all. But there was something Beth Greene never expected to change, and it all started with a mysterious connection to the quiet bowman that would alter her forever. Bethyl.
1. Chapter 1: Fire

Red burned along the Atlanta skyline, bathing Grady Memorial in a bright gleam of crimson. Inside lights flickered on and off in the halls, eliciting small cries from people as they moved towards the stairs. From the outside, the sounds of windows crashing, cars honking, and alarms blaring carried through the walls—painting a gruesome tale of what awaited them beyond the doors of the hospital.

She was running against the crowd of people streaming down the hallway, while what was left of the staff were helping patients evacuate the hospital.

Beth pushed her legs as fast as they could go.

The outbreak had changed everything. Beth had started on the Labor and Delivery floor after graduating with her degree in nursing and was just beginning to feel confident—she had found her niche working with babies. At twenty-two, she had her own small place in Atlanta and worked at a job she loved. She had successfully gotten out of her small hometown.

But now, with her scrubs bloodied and dark circles forming under her eyes from staying awake over the past twenty-four hours, she was definitely missing her quaint little town. The hospital had been packed with patients that were admitted after being bitten—suffering from periodic seizures before inevitably being burned out by a deadly fever. Considered highly contagious, isolation wards were designated to hold those infected, but the chilling truth was once they died they didn't stay dead.

A few days ago it was announced, through the Emergency Broadcast system, that Atlanta was officially declared a 'Refugee Zone', but that had all gone to hell over the past couple of hours. Everything had turned into complete chaos with the influx of people coming into the city, which had only proved to spread the infection faster. The authorities seemed to have lost any and all control over the situation, because they were now shooting people on the spot.

The sounds of gunshots echoed from below. They were getting closer, clearing each floor before moving to the next one. Tears burned her eyes, but she only pushed faster through the hall, brushing along the wall to stay out of the way, ignoring the cramping in her legs, she just had to keep moving. Busting through the emergency stairwell door, she took them two at a time to reach the fourth floor, using the railing to keep her from falling to the ground.

She was gasping when she finally reached the Maternity Ward.

The charge nurse and Beth's mentor, Susan, had given her two large bags of assorted baby supplies, formula and medicine from the storeroom to put in her car. Moving through the parking deck quickly and quietly had saved her life and allowed her to get all that stuff to Susan's Hummer. She had passed unseen by both the living and the dead.

Beth had to swallow down the terror at the things she witnessed—there was so much blood, screaming and gurgling.

Tears finally fell from her eyes as she moved down the now empty hallway, passing the vacant nursery. A few weeks ago babies had filled that nursery and eager fathers were pushing their faces up against the glass to get a closer look at their crying newborns.

Now it was empty and dark, the glass smeared with bloodied hand prints.

Multiple shots went off again making her flinch. She began to pick up her pace over the purple colored tile. Beth knocked three times against Susan's office door and felt relief when she saw a familiar face peer at her from the other side. Susan's short white-blonde hair was caked with blood and red dots, that had already dried, stuck to her face and neck.

Despite her unkempt appearance, her gray eyes were unyielding and focused. Her five-foot-nine frame was built to intimidate, plus her twenty years as an Army nurse only made her a more respected charge nurse.

Susan opened the door just enough to allow Beth's small frame to slide through, and the older woman surveyed either side of the hallway before shutting the door quietly behind her. A small body crashed against her legs, and she quickly bent down to lift the little girl into her embrace.

Family members had come to pick up most of the mothers, but one woman and her children fell through the cracks. Every day that her boyfriend hadn't come, Janice slipped deeper into depression. She still didn't understand that if he hadn't shown up by now, he wasn't going to.

She didn't have the heart to tell her that he did come back, but never made it past the lobby. She had seen him . . . slumped against the sitting area with a large chunk of flesh missing from his neck.

Janice was now left with a small baby boy, Christopher and a four-year old girl, Clara. Both children were blessed with red hair and big blue eyes, like their mother—all of them clueless about the danger they were now in.

"Did you find a safe path to the car?" Susan questioned promptly.

Beth nodded against Clara's shoulder, she wasn't ready to talk about what she saw—the horror was still too fresh and she dreaded leaving the safety of the small room again. Janice was sitting in a chair looking blankly at the bookshelf, dressed in a pair of dark blue scrubs, weakly rocking a sleeping Christopher in her arms.

Beth shared a worried glance with Susan; Janice had suffered a hard labor with considerable loss of blood. On top of her difficult labor, the added stress made her weak and her mental state seemed to be hanging by a thread.

She was concerned about getting Janice to the car safely. They were running out of time. Between the dead that roamed unchecked in the streets and the men inside the building with the guns that didn't give a damn whether you were bitten or not, they had to make their move.

"We have to go . . . those gunshots are getting closer, and we can't waste anymore time. We can make a new game plan after getting to some form of safety at my house. At least we'll have more weapons to arm ourselves with," Susan said, picking her gun up off her desk.

The long black knife she gave her burned against Beth's skin where it sat sheathed in the waistband of her scrubs waiting for her to whip it out against one of . . . one of those things. Although she couldn't fathom the thought of having to get so close to that snapping mouth in order to use it.

Susan heaved one more duffel bag over her shoulder and Beth walked over to Janice—Clara still safely tucked in her arms. "Janice? Janice we have to go."

Janice jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, appearing not to have even noticed her return; she looked unseeingly at Clara in Beth's arms. "I can't go out there . . . I have to wait for Daniel. How will he know where we are going if I leave?"

She felt guilt claw up her throat for what she was about to do, but she needed to get Janice moving—she needed to get this mother and her kids into that damn car. "We'll leave a note for him—when he comes looking he'll find it and meet us at Susan's house, okay? But we have to leave now, it's not safe for your babies here anymore!" she pleaded, darting her eyes back up to Susan for help.

"Janice, we're moving now. Let's put Christopher in his car seat," Susan's strong voice finalized the discussion. Briefly putting the duffel down, she swooped little Chris from his mother's arms, placing the still sleeping babe into his carrier before handing it over to Beth.

Finally getting everyone moving, Susan had the duffel returned to her and with Janice's arm swung over her shoulder, she carefully opened the door. Looking both ways, they were the first one's to head out of the room—gun first.

The little girl stood nervously beside her—the toddler picking up on Beth's anxious demeanor. All she could do was offer Clara a weak smile before pulling her along after the older pair into the bleak hallway.

She could feel her heart pounding faster as they moved down the stairs—pausing every few moments when they heard the sounds of gunfire reverberating throughout the stairwell. Thankfully they had avoided the traveling death squad.

Reaching the first floor, Janice's face had turned deathly pale from exertion and they still had a ways to go before reaching the car. Susan's jaw clenched against her own fatigue, but proceeded to half carry the redheaded woman along.

"Come on, girl!" Susan encouraged.

They were heading towards the lobby—the lobby had a long enclosed bridge connecting it with the parking deck. Susan had managed to park her vehicle on the third level, which was where the other end of the bridge opened. She was praying that Janice was too out of it to notice Daniel's body amongst the hoard of other bodies strewn about the room.

But the small group's luck had run out.

"Dan? Daniel!" Janice shrieked. Life seemed to have been shocked back into her as she ripped out of Susan's hold and ran over bodies to reach the blond man—Daniel's chin rested against his chest. She paused a moment, but eventually fell to her knees beside her lifeless boyfriend, choking back sobs. Janice's freckled hands pulled his head against her chest and continued to cry into the matted hair.

Susan shook her head and dropped the duffel—after checking on Beth and the kids she started making her way to the distraught mother. Susan was no more than seven feet away from them when Daniel's hand twitched ever so much and Janice in her distress didn't notice before it was too late. His blond mane reared up to reveal a pair of milky eyes and a deadly mouth—he struck her face within seconds ripping into her cheek with a deep groan. Blood sprayed from the wound and Janice screamed out in pain, but Daniel was on top of her digging into her without thought or mercy—driven by the plain instinct to feed.

Beth felt disbelief wash over her at the sight of Janice thrashing under the dead man, making bile rise up her throat. Everything went from fucking worse to really fucking worse.

Clara screamed, trying to pull from Beth's hold to get to her mom, and the baby awoke with cries of his own. The death squad obviously missed a few headshots because more bodies started moving along the floor—pushing themselves up onto their feet, seeming to be attracted to the loud sounds.

"Susan!" Beth yelled in warning. Susan had the gun pointed at Daniel and Janice, but turned back at Beth when she screamed her name.

Beth picked up a squirming Clara and tightly gripped the carrier between her arm and elbow. Knowing Susan would catch up with them after she grabbed the duffel bag, Beth took off across the bridge.

The screaming coming from the lobby made it almost impossible to hear if Susan was behind them, but the sounds of gunshots being fired became louder and louder, assuring Beth that Susan was right on her heels. The dead following close behind.

The street underneath the bridge was infested with walkers—more so than before when she came through the first time.

Finally reaching the end of the bridge she looked through the glass door into the deck. "Beth, where are the keys?" Susan asked breathlessly.

"My right leg pocket!"

Susan snatched them out of her scrubs and had the door open in a second—ushering her through with a 'hurry up' motion. The grunts and growls behind her made Beth push herself through the pain radiating in her arms and chest. The black Hummer looked like a godsend and Clara let out a childish screech when the glass separating the bridge and deck shattered behind them. Beth chanced a look back and saw that about twenty walkers were gaining ground on the group.

"Fuck Greene! Don't look back now. Come on, we're almost there! Just a little further!" Susan screamed over her shoulder.

She whipped her head forward at Susan's command. She found herself nearly in tears when the Hummer roared to life with a click of a button, and practically threw herself into the back seat with the kids still attached to her person. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins as Susan hit the gas, hightailing it down the deck path and into the darkness of the night.

Chris's carrier snapped into the car seat with a click and only after getting a seat belt on Clara, did Beth climb into the passenger seat and buckle up. She held her blonde hair away from her face with trembling hands while pitiful gasps left her lips.

The visions of what she had seen kept on playing on a loop in her head.

Beth couldn't say how long they were in the car; much less how Susan navigated the car through the congestion of Atlanta, but the older woman got them to the outskirts of the city. The car was silent when they finally pulled into the driveway, the kids quiet in the backseat as Susan killed the engine.

Susan's voice broke the stillness of the car and Beth flinched at the sound of her firm tone. "There was nothing we could have done, Beth."

She knew there was nothing they could have done after Daniel attacked Janice, but Susan was an amazing shot—why didn't she just put Janice out of her misery?

"Why didn't you just kill her after she was bitten? We left her there to be torn apart by those bastards—no one deserves to die like that," she whispered into the otherwise silent car.

Susan was quiet for an instant before answering, "We needed every bullet. What if I ran out of them before we got to the car?" Susan defended herself. Sighing she rubbed a hand down her face, but softly continued. "But that's on my conscious not yours, alright? It was my call."

Beth shook her head at her superior but didn't fight back—even though she should have. She was just so damn tired. Wiping her own face, she turned to look back at Clara. The little girl's red hair hung limply around her face and her blue eyes were red and puffy, her small nose bright red at the tip from crying.

A dull feeling settled in her stomach. What happens now?

Would the government even do anything for those that weren't infected?

The memory of the people that were supposed to be in charge, shooting helpless individuals in the halls made Beth pause, maybe she shouldn't hold her breath.

* * *

Beth busied herself with getting Clara into an over sized t-shirt and taking care of Chris, who had blissfully remained asleep since leaving the hospital. While, Susan started securing every point of entry, looking for any weak spots that those monsters could get through.

The older woman came back into the living room, with a huge bundle of pillows and blankets under her arms. Instead of tossing them all on the floor to make a make shift bed, she threw one pillow and blanket next to Beth and Clara before starting to hang the rest of the blankets on the walls and stuffing pillows by the windows.

Beth felt her eyebrows dip in confusion.

"It's to keep sound from escaping. You saw the way they really started moving when they heard it. This is so Chris's cries won't attract them."

Beth was about to open her mouth to respond, when a loud boom cracked across the sky, sounding like it came from deeper in the city. Susan quickly pulled back the coverings on the window and stood dumb founded—Beth put the baby down and extracted herself from Clara's desperate hold. Giving the child a reassuring kiss to the forehead before practically sprinting across the room, to stand beside Susan.

The blood drained from her face as she watched helicopters and other planes fly over Atlanta dropping bombs into the streets—everything exploding into huge billowing flames.

"Napalm. They're dropping napalm in the streets," Susan said. Her voice sounded completely emotionless, but looking into her eyes, Beth saw the same sadness and worry she felt reflected back to her.

Beth had officially seen hell and it was on fire.

...

* * *

 **Mandatory disclaimer: Everything in the Walking Dead Universe—and its characters belongs to AMC and its creators. Similarities to the original characters or themes from the show and/or comics are used on here for entertainment purposes only. No profit is being made. No infringement intended.**

* * *

 **A/N:** **The idea wouldn't leave my head. A slow-burn Bethyl. Rated M for adult themes. Thank you for reading and please review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Falling

The dull ache resonated through Beth's head, migrating from the back of her skull to behind her half lidded eyes; rendering her movements weak and sloppy as the pain intensified.

The recent events and stresses, coupled with the lack of food, were giving her an increasingly common and unrelenting headache with bouts of dizziness. She had to fight the desire to just close her eyes and allow her mind to drift into blissful reprieve. But the gentle sounds of a baby and small toddler in the backseat reminded her why giving in wasn't an option.

Glancing over her shoulder at the babies, she watched almost wistfully as Clara blew her hot breathe on the window—covering the clear glass with a dense fog. The toddler watched in fascination as the haze bloomed along the glass. Clara used her little finger to draw pictures in the condensation only to hastily wipe them away in order to start all over again.

Memories from what seems like a lifetime ago suddenly bombarded her, rattling Beth's current resolve to remain unattached from thoughts that connected to her family. Of Daddy, Momma, Shawn, and Maggie . . .

She swallowed back the tears that threatened to spill as the images of Maggie and her making use of their own momma's kitchen window to play tic tac toe during those rainy afternoon's on the farm. She weakly laughed when she remembered her momma's stern face, scorning them for marking up her clean windows. Beth smiled in spite of how much it hurt.

The last time she spoke to them was a few days before the city was bombed. They begged her to come home and she pleaded for them to come to the city—where it was safe. How naïve could she have been?

She had felt a duty to her patients because at the time a lot of the staff had already deserted their jobs at Grady in favor of being with their families. Beth understood that, hell, she could relate to the desire—but at the end of the day she chose to stay. And even though she tried not to regret her decision, she just wished she could have gotten to see her family, at least one last time.

However, thoughts of home were becoming less and less frequent over the last couple of days. They were just too painful to entertain, so she pushed them away in pure self-preservation. Beth closed her eyes and laid her head against the window as the feeling of hopelessness weighed heavy in her chest.

She was beginning to realize that the chances of seeing her family or her home again were fading everyday. What had once been a few hours drive to see her parents mere months ago, suddenly seemed like traveling thousands of miles away—completely out of reach and unattainable.

During those torturous days in the dark following the aftermath of the bombings, Susan and Beth had originally planned to try and make the trip to the Greene farm. They hoped that since it was initially a small population before the outbreak that there was, however slight, a chance that it could be a safe haven from the violence.

But after days of limited visibility, the smoke in the city finally cleared, revealing the nightmare that was their new reality. Those creatures walked the streets in droves. And the napalm didn't put many of them down for good, only charred their dead flesh. The ones caught in the blast resembled walking shadows.

The number of dead geeks that stumbled through the streets and alleys only seemed to increase over time, till hordes of walking corpses was all you saw. They'd be lucky to get themselves and the kids out of the city in one piece, much less make the trek to reach the rolling fields of the country. Where hopefully, her family was still alive and safe.

So instead, Susan decided that it would be smarter to move the kids to a quarry she knew about that was still in view of the city. The new plan was to gather supplies, and wait to see if the government would try to reestablish control before they attempted to isolate themselves in the countryside.

Dread sparked within her when she saw all those _things_ groaning in the streets, but it only grew with every empty car they passed on their way out of the city. The line going into Atlanta stretched for miles but there weren't any bodies. That's when the feelings of dread bloomed into full-blown alarm when she thought about where all those people _were_.

They had run into some survivors though. Susan had gone out to scope for information and returned with T-Dog, Glenn, Jacqui, and Louisa. The latter of the two were quiet and mostly kept to themselves, but it felt good to have more people looking out for each other. After all, there was safety in numbers.

The smoke may have cleared but smog lingered in its place, making an awful day even more miserable when combined with the humid Georgia weather. Not to mention the guilt that seemed almost constant now, stabbing at her conscience.

Beth refocused her attention on Glenn and T-Dog, who were busy changing the flat tire on Louisa's truck. Susan stood behind them providing cover, brandishing a rather deadly looking axe while Louisa and Jacqui were safely tucked away inside T-Dog's van, waiting on the repair.

Sighing, Beth roughly rubbed her hand against her forehead. The skin was aflame under her palm making the car she'd been sitting in for the past half hour feel like a cage that was rapidly getting smaller. Needing fresh air, she climbed out and was hit by a wave of unrelenting humidity. Obliviously, that brilliant idea didn't help, she thought.

Shutting the door behind her, she unexpectedly slumped against the side of the car when another dizzy spell hit her, this one much worse than before.

A muffled voice was yelling and her vision became fuzzy. It was akin to being dunked under water. A strange buzzing sound started ringing in her ears, and no matter how much she squinted or blinked to clear her sight, it didn't make a difference. Everything around her remained blurry and elusive.

Realistically she knew that it was no more than a few seconds before she regained some composure but at the time it seemed to last forever.

She could hear someone shouting her name again and a prickly sensation tingled at the base of her neck when she heard a deep snarl come from somewhere beside her. Even in Beth's depleted alertness, she knew that it was a geek.

The sound of gunfire hitting its mark made her snap her head to the side just in time to see a woman crumble to the ground, her half eaten body sprawled along the concrete of the highway with a bullet in her head. The dizzy spell receded completely with the loud shot and Chris's now angry wails.

Susan was advancing on Beth with her gun still raised.

"Get back in the car! Now!" she ordered.

Beth's hands scrambled with the handle when she sighted all the other geeks that were now descending on them, the loud noises only stimulating them to move faster.

Then everything happened so quickly.

Hauling herself into the car, her heart froze when Clara wasn't in her seat making finger designs on the window. Her door was wide open. Grabbing the crowbar off the passenger side floor, Beth fumbled across the car to get to the backseats—vaguely registering the passenger door being slammed shut behind her.

A small voice cried out, "Bethy?"

It was mere seconds after crawling out of the car and slamming the door shut to protect the baby that she heard another terrified plea for help followed by breathless screeches. Beth was frantic; her blonde mane whipped across her face with every snap of her neck as she searched for Clara.

When she finally saw the flash of red hair, panic seized her as she witnessed two geeks chasing after the little girl. Their arms out stretched, aiming to snatch Clara from the ground while their mangled jaws snapped open and shut in predatory anticipation.

Launching herself over the guardrail, Beth charged down the small incline screaming to divert their attention because she could see Clara's short legs were hardly keeping her out of reach.

Only one, a lanky male, seemed to find a meal running at it instead of away from it the better deal.

It was the other geek that still manically pursued Clara that Beth zoned in on. A bloody dress hung off the woman's emaciated frame and her behavior was ravenous. Beth felt her blood run cold when the geek caught Clara's red ponytail, and her little body flew backwards into the geek's embrace.

Beth screamed and dove right past the lanky one, throwing all her weight against the geek that was seconds away from clamping down on Clara's shoulder. Knocking them all to the ground, Clara scrambled away while she and the geek struggled desperately on the ground. The crowbar was ripped from her hand and she felt a hard jab to the head during the scuffle.

The blow only blinded her for an instant, but that was all the opportunity needed. All of a sudden, she found herself on her back with the geek on top of her. Hastily, Beth threw up her hands in a vain attempt to keep the corpse's snapping teeth at bay, but her fingers sunk deep into the dead flesh, allowing the geek to creep closer to its goal. Its stale putrid breath made her gag.

She could see her own terror filled eyes reflected in the sunken milky gaze of the vicious creature. She saw death. The thing was slowly but surely progressing closer and Beth's muscles locked in terror when she realized that this was how it was going to end.

She had all but given up hope when blood and other unmentionables exploded across her face. The corpse abruptly stopped moving, an arrowhead protruding from its eye. Beth quickly pushed the body off her and an instant later another body wrapped around her, this one very much alive.

Clara blubbered nonsensically into her neck, and all Beth could do was pull the distraught child tighter against her. Rapid breaths escaped her as the sting of tears collected in her eyes; the shock of everything rendered her numb while she tried to process what had just happened.

Remembering the other geek when she spotted it lying immobile on the ground, an arrow rooted in its brain as well. Beth pushed Clara back and shakily ran her hands over any exposed flesh, frantically looking for evidence of a scratch or bite.

"Clara? Clara, look at me," she begged. "Did it bite you? Did it?"

Clara's head shook mutely from side to side, her bottom lip trembling between her teeth. Beth sighed audibly in relief.

Becoming aware of the man stalking down the incline, Beth pulled Clara back into her arms. The stranger had a crossbow clutched in his grip and the arrow whooshed through the air—taking out another geek with lethal accuracy.

She hadn't even noticed the third geek stumbling over to them.

Gunshots echoed around them while she watched him march closer until he stood over her, effectively blocking out the sunrays that had managed to penetrate the smog.

"Either of 'ya bit?" he grunted, his voice low and gravely. Beth's eyes trailed down to where his hand hooked on his belt, close to the hilt of his knife.

She swallowed nervously when he bent down next her and yanked the shaft of the arrow out of the geek slumped beside her with a sickening squish. Clara flinched in her arms at the sound and he kept staring at them, still waiting on that answer. The desire to gag surged when she saw him wipe the remnants of the geeks brain-matter on the side of his pants, before knocking back the arrow with a resounding click.

"No," she muttered. She resisted the growing urge to throw up.

Then Beth's breath caught in her throat when he reached behind him but she relaxed when he only produced a red hanky—offering it to her with one stiff jerk of his head. She hesitated, but eventually accepted it with quiet thanks.

Moving to her knees, Beth tried wiping some the blood off Clara's cheek and the stranger moved to collect the rest of his arrows.

"Beth!" Glenn yelled in alarm, running down the hill. "Jesus, are you two okay?" He skidded to a stop in front of her.

Beth realized she probably looked like hell and the lightheaded feeling from earlier returned with a vengeance.

"Yeah, we're fine," she said. She passed a still shaking Clara over to him before cautiously getting to her feet.

The movement must have been too fast because her equilibrium suddenly abandoned her, and she tumbled back to the ground. The last thing she remembered was Glenn's worried voice before the world faded into nothing.

...

* * *

 **Mandatory disclaimer: Everything in the Walking Dead Universe—and its characters belongs to AMC and its creators. Similarities to the original characters or themes from the show and/or comics are used on here for entertainment purposes only. No profit is being made. No infringement intended.**

* * *

 **A/N:** **Thank you so much for your response to this story so far! They have finally met…sort of. I look forward to sharing what I have planned for them. Thank you for reading and please review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Quarry

Beth's eyelids fluttered in quick succession, and she released a low groan as she gradually regained consciousness. Blinking warily, she tried pushing herself up using her elbows, only to be pushed back down by a firm hand on her shoulder. Not having the strength to fight, Beth settled back down and instead took stock of her surroundings.

Enclosed in a green tent, Beth was laying on top of a cot and tucked snuggly inside a thick sleeping bag. A familiar face hovered next to her, and she took some comfort in realizing she wasn't still on the highway.

"Hey," Susan greeted her. "Welcome back, Greene."

"What . . . what happe-" Beth rasped. She could barely run her tongue over the roof of her mouth it was so dry—so speech was next to impossible. Understanding lit Susan's face, and she carefully assisted with angling Beth's head up to give her some water.

"You had a pretty nasty concussion. It didn't help that you were hungry and dehydrated," Susan said. "God, you should have told me, Beth. Don't pull that again, you're no good to anyone passing out," she scolded, whipping away some water that dribbled down her chin.

Beth's thoughts immediately went to Clara and Chris. "The kids?" she probed.

"They're okay. Yeah, they're okay. Jacqui is keeping a close eye on 'em. Speaking of which, Clara will be happy you're finally awake, she's been with you just as diligently as I have," Susan responded fondly, but quickly sobered. "You've been out more than forty-eight hours, you know. Gave me quite the scare. But thankfully, the supplies we took from the hospital came in handy. How are you feeling?"

She simply shrugged her shoulders, Beth didn't want to admit to her friend how pathetic she felt. Shame forced her gaze down when she considered how much of a burden she must have been during the time she was unconscious and maybe even before than. "Where are we?" Beth asked blandly.

Susan sighed in exasperation at her attempt to bypass the question, but mercifully conceded. "Well, we're at the quarry now, but we weren't the first one's to get here. In fact, there were quite a few people that had already made camp. Apparently, they'd been a part of the traffic jam waiting to get into the city before it was bombed. We decided to join forces—more or less."

"Oh," Beth mumbled tiredly. She couldn't muster up the enthusiasm at discovering more survivors when her vision kept getting fuzzier around the edges.

"Okay, Beth. It's okay," Susan reassured, patting her shoulder soothingly.

Without needing to be told twice, she was dragged down into oblivion once more.

…

The air was hot and sticky today. Beth used the back of her hand to wipe the sweat off her brow for the hundredth time this afternoon while moving down the wash line, collecting the clothes that had semi dried. Little Christopher slept peacefully against her chest, his wisps of red hair sticking straight up towards the sky as he snored softly.

She tenderly ran a finger over his soft downy cheek, giggling when his legs twitched at the sensation.

Beth was thankful that Susan managed to procure a sling that was designed to cool the baby down in this intense heat. The black carrier wrapped around her chest and back, securely cradling him inside. It had been a chore lugging his bassinet everywhere earlier—but that was until she found the sling among their gear and since then getting work done, plus keeping an eye on the kids became much simpler.

Beth huffed to herself as more sweat formed at the base of her temples—swelling large enough till they rolled down her skin. The wetness only seemed to emphasize the blistering heat. The refreshed feeling she enjoyed after scrubbing off the filth this morning had completely vanished, because since joining the land of the living she hadn't stopped moving, forcing a new layer of dirt to settle over her skin in recompense.

After being introduced to some of the members in the camp, Beth immediately started organizing her group's supplies and establishing the everyday tasks that needed to be done. The need to create a routine, or some semblance of normality in this uncertain world was for Beth, becoming essential. Staying busy also suppressed the part of her that was tempted to just stay in the tent, to pretend that this was all just some nightmare that she could wake up from.

Beth's hands paused on the shirt she was taking down and her grip tightened on the fabric. Nightmares were something she was rapidly becoming accustomed to. Visions of mangled flesh hanging off of bloodied tendons, festering gazes, and rotting teeth . . .

She was abruptly pulled out of her tortured thoughts by Chris's fidgeting, and she sucked in a deep breath to calm herself. Between her thoughts and wanting to avoid future angry cries when the baby woke up, Beth hurried up and grabbed the rest of the clothes off the line, carelessly throwing them into the basket before heading back to her tent.

The camp as a whole was very active today. The majority of the members were at first busy with chores, but after a while a lot of the survivors ran out of things to do and some of them were just trying to pass the time. Beth spotted Andrea and Amy sitting under the awning of Dale's RV and waved to them politely, offering a small smile. Almost everyone has been kind to her thus far, but one thing was for certain—this was one random group of people.

She wasn't going to lie to herself, she was hesitant to make new friends among this group; it wasn't as if she planned to stay among them for too long. The plan would always be to ultimately get back to the farm, but she was getting the vibe that they were going to be here for a while and getting attached to some of the folks might be inevitable.

"Hey, Sue?" Beth asked, setting the basket down. "Would you be willin' to change his diaper so I can finish up some things before startin' dinner?"

Susan put her gun on the cooler and nodded. "Yeah."

Under Jacqui's watchful eye, a group of kids laughed as they played tag while Clara was enthusiastically trying to keep up with the older kids longer strides. Shaking her head with a smile, Beth hitched the laundry on her hip and made her way over to the back of the Hummer, assured that Clara was in goods hands for the moment.

Opening the trunk to put the clothes away, she froze when a thunderous rustling came from the forest behind her.

The sounds only got louder and seemed to be moving closer. Beth whipped around, squeezing the hilt of her knife as she squinted towards the woods—trying to decipher where exactly the noise was coming from. Her gaze fixated on her left when multiple branches started snapping in unison, almost as if something was stomping through them.

She waited on baited breath for a walker to appear. Beth considered screaming for help when she froze and dropped her arm with a sigh when two men emerged from between the trees. One man casually walked with a dead deer thrown over his shoulders and another man followed close behind, a crossbow and some squirrels hanging off either arm.

The man that held the deer stopped short when he caught sight of Beth. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? If it ain't Sleeping Beauty!" he announced.

Feeling a little uncomfortable under both men's sudden scrutiny, Beth crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm Beth," she corrected with more bravado than she actually felt.

The older of the two dropped the deer like a sack of potatoes and swaggered over to her. "Beth . . ." he echoed back. Letting out a small whistle, he stopped in front of her and tilted his head to the side. "Well, princess, you can call me Merle," he said leering at her. "Yep, good ole' Merle."

The man who called himself 'Merle' ogled her body again—only this time he slowly took his time, making her fidget beneath his gaze. Beth resisted the urge to take a step back to compensate for his intrusion into her personal space. However, she knew that for him it would only confirm how uneasy he made her, so she stood her ground.

Never taking his eyes off her, he hollered over his shoulder, "Hey, Prince Charming! Get your ass on over here. It's the damsel in distress you had slung over your shoulder from the other day. Sleeping Beauty, here, has finally woken up."

Glossing over the thick sarcasm embedded in his tone, Beth came up short at the mention of the other man having _her_ in his possession at any point. Combing through her memories, her jaw slackened with sudden clarity. She had completely forgotten about the stranger that saved Clara and her on the highway. Beth took a second look at the other man and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment when she recognized that same scowl from a few days ago.

He looked right back at her. But in the instant Merle mentioned the heroic act the stranger didn't look too pleased to be reminded of it.

Damp brown hair stuck to his forehead and sides of his face—but it was his thunderous expression that really caught her attention as he stared at them through narrowed eyes. His jaw clenched and his arms crossed over his chest in obvious irritation. He didn't look impressed either at Merle's cynical jabs or her. Beth couldn't tell which was the case and for some reason unbeknownst to her—not knowing bothered her.

Merle focused on his friend with an amused snicker. At least someone was enjoying this bizarre encounter, not that it stopped her temper from rising in response to the other man's hostile posture. Beth's eyes darted between the two men; it was like she was a string caught between two alley cats.

Although as the seconds ticked by her anger was steadily being overshadowed by discomfort. Merle turned back and was watching her again, this time in general curiosity. She didn't know which look turned her stomach more—being seen as a sex object or considered with real interest. Genuine curiosity from a man like Merle didn't spell out anything noble.

Then from the silence a gun cocked behind her.

Merle ripped his gaze up and if possible whatever he saw made his smirk turn into a full-blown grin. "Sunshine!"

Susan was back in her chair with a shotgun lying across her lap—tapping said shotgun's barrel warningly with a blank look on her face.

Suffice to say that she seemed pissed and Beth felt relief wash over her.

"Merle," Susan said. "I thought we already had this discussion?"

Merle lifted his hands in mock surrender. "Just makin' friends is all!" he replied, his grin never leaving his face.

A rare breeze rippled through the air—blowing the hair that was stuck to the nape of Beth's neck away. She pushed the few blonde strands that flew past her vision behind her ear while Susan leaned forward in her chair.

"Well then, if you're _just_ making friends," Susan parroted back in mock understanding. However, in a split second, her voice swiftly twisted into a rather chilly tone as she said, "But a word to the wise, you know . . . between friends. If I ever catch you looking at Beth like you just did again, Dixon. I won't hesitate in shooting off your balls."

Merle hesitated before chuckling, "I love it when you talk dirty to me, woman."

Without fear, he approached the new object of his interest, seeming to disregard the very real threat of being shot. Sue continued to tap her fingers against the shotgun.

At some point the conversation had obviously started to bore Merle's companion, because he sat angled away from the scene meticulously cleaning his kills. Beth wanted to walk over and thank him, but feared what he would say to her if she did. She was just about to suck up the courage when Clara suddenly came running up to her.

The little girl proudly paraded a yellow dandelion in her outstretched hand—pushing her arm up as far as she could reach so Beth could get a better look.

"Bethy! Bethy, look it!" Clara squealed. Her cheeks were rosy from exertion and she was sporting the first excited smile Beth had seen on the toddlers face in days. Her lips curved up into a genuine smile at the display of childish innocence.

Getting down on her knees in front of the toddler, she began to realize that Clara wasn't showing her the flower as much as the small green caterpillar that crawled on top of it.

"Wow, look at that! Good job, sweetheart. What are you going to do with him now?"

She was so engrossed in deciphering Clara's broken sentences that when Merle yelled on his way back to his side of camp Beth just about jumped out of her skin.

"Careful there, Darlina! I'm sure the rule of no staring at the princess applies to you too. One of us has to keep our nuts to carry on the Dixon name. Can't deprive the next generation now can we?"

Beth's head turned on instinct. So they were brothers? The youngest Dixon hastily ducked his head down when his brother called him out.

She could just make out the tips of his ears turn pink as he focused back on his work, never looking up again as he finished prepping the squirrels. Beth picked up Clara before moving over to Sue.

"That's the man from the other day?" she asked curiously.

Susan rested back into her chair and sighed, "Yeah, Daryl Dixon. And the other rather unsavory character is his brother, Merle. I'd suggest staying away from them—especially the older one. He's a scum bag and I don't trust him," she explained, jerking her chin in Merle's direction.

Merle and Daryl spoke in low tones to each other, and whatever Daryl muttered made Merle guffaw obnoxiously before picking up a squirrel from the pile, his body still shaking in silent laughter. While Merle looked mighty pleased with himself, Daryl was handling his knife with more vigor than he had earlier, the scowl on his face having deepened.

"What happened the other day, on the highway?" Beth inquired, turning back to Susan.

"Well, everything happened so fast after you got back into the car, yanno? The Dixon brothers showed up in the thick of it, and at first I would've thought they were just helping but, well, Merle over there, got more enjoyment taking out the walkers then just simply aiding us. And to be honest, I never saw Daryl till he was carrying you over the guardrail," Susan enlightened her, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

"So . . . they joined us."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Not exactly. If Glenn didn't have such a big mouth they wouldn't have. But it's history now anyways. Just, let's keep an eye on them, all right? I don't trust Merle as far as I could throw him, and his brother seems to do whatever Merle says so be aware."

"Hm, right," Beth answered absentmindedly while curiously peeking back at Daryl once more.

…

"Evening, y'all," Shane addressed with a nod. "I couldn't help but overhear the dispute before. Just makin' sure everythin's okay?"

"Everything is fine," Susan responded, rocking the baby.

Beth sat in front of their fire; occasionally stirring the pot of beans while Clara lay on the ground alongside her. The toddler was using weeds and grass to make their 'salad'. It wasn't as if there were any toys for her to play with, so Beth played along when Clara announced she would help make dinner.

It was a relatively calm night and they hadn't had one of those in some time. It was nice to imagine for a moment that they were just camping—delusional, but nice. Glenn, Jacqui, Louisa, and T-Dog had traveled over to the fire half an hour ago and it was normal up until Shane came over.

Sue said that everyone had joined forces so that meant evenly distributing the food. But that also meant that they were going to have to organize a scavenging party to get more, and soon. There were a lot of people in this camp so even with rationing they could be out by the end of the week.

Shane, having interrupted the moment, brought a reality check and Beth straightened her posture from the relaxed one she had before he arrived.

"Well, I wanted to discuss something with y'all," he said bending down to eye level. "It's just . . . everyone's sharing the food and the only ones not participating are the Dixons. That meat they caught isn't going to last, it's gonna spoil long before they can eat it. So Susan, I was wonderin' if you would talk to them with me? You seem like you can talk some sense into Merle, and he's the one I think is gonna be the problem."

Susan scoffed but got up regardless, handing the baby over to Jacqui. "I don't foresee this ending well, but I have to agree . . . on all accounts."

Together the duo headed over toward the Dixon's. Everyone, Beth included, was watching the conversation unfold intently. Unsurprisingly, Merle didn't sound too willing to share judging by the cussing and other rude expletives that were flying over there.

Beth nudged Glenn beside her, and waited for him to tear his eyes away from the argument. "What have they been like since they set up camp?"

"They've pretty much kept to themselves and then they were off on their hunt for the rest of the time," he said, swiveling back to the altercation. "Honestly, I don't think Merle likes being given orders by a cop," he commented idly.

Beth couldn't disagree with him; it wasn't a far-fetched notion to assume that Merle disliked authority. She didn't mean to profile, but they seemed to conform to the old male southern redneck type.

"Listen, you mind yours and I'll mind mine. Got it?" Merle spat at Shane. The former cop bristled at Merle's tone, and she could tell he was fighting to keep his cool with the gruff redneck. Susan grabbed Shane's arm and lightly shook her head, subtly pulling him back. No more words were exchanged while Susan continued to pull Shane back towards their camp, speaking to him in hushed tones.

With the argument appearing to be over the Dixon brothers settled back around their fire. Merle was grumbling under his breath while giving Shane's retreating back a nasty glare, but it was Daryl that caught her attention. He leisurely slipped the knife, that she never noticed he was clenching at his side, back into its sheath. Running his hand over his mouth, Daryl, like his older brother was intently watching Shane walk away, minus the sneer.

She was brought up short when his gaze swiftly moved to clash with hers, as if he felt her eyes on him. Beth could feel the blush spread across her cheeks, more than a little embarrassed at being caught staring, but what surprised her was that she wasn't the first to look away. Daryl hastily pivoted his attention onto the fire before picking at the meat he had cooked.

"So, I'm guessing they don't plan on sharing?" T-Dog stated bluntly.

Shane clenched his jaw in annoyance and nodded. "You'd guess correctly. Tomorrow, Susan has volunteered to make a scavenging run into Atlanta. We'll try to find more food and stock up as much as we can."

Glenn raised his hand impishly and looked at Susan. "I'll go with you, I know the city pretty well and it will be easier with just the two of us. In and out."

Susan sat back down in her chair. "Sounds like a plan."

…

"Why didn't you ask me to come with you? Why Glenn?" Beth asked vehemently.

Susan closed up the back of the truck and sighed, turning to finally face Beth. "Beth, you're still recovering from a nasty blow and the kids need you here. One of us will always have to stay at camp. Those kids are relying on you and me to protect them. That's why you're staying behind."

Beth followed Susan around to the front of the truck—Glenn was already sitting inside. She felt torn between wanting to stay in the safety of the camp with the kids and going on the run to get supplies and watch Susan's back.

What if Susan never came back? Her anxiety only rose when she realized she would never know what happened to Susan if she didn't return. Beth could only assume the worst.

"But . . ." she muttered.

"End of discussion," Susan ordered, eyeing her once more before jumping in the driver's seat. The rumble of the engine forced her to take a couple steps back and she watched forlornly as the truck grew smaller into the distance.

Shuffling back to her tent, she settled down next to Jacqui. The older woman gave her a sympathetic nudge. "Baby girl, don't you worry. She can take care of herself just fine."

Beth leaned back on her elbows and took a deep breath. "I know, I just . . . I guess . . . Oh, I don't know." A hush descended around them for a moment before she spoke up again, the epiphany of everything really hitting her. "This, _this_ is our life now. The constant worry and fear, whether we'll even have food in a week . . ." Beth trailed off feebly. Flashes of Janice and her terrified screams echoed through her memory—a constant reminder of what almost happened to her a few days ago. "I don't want to end up being torn apart," she whispered grimly.

Jacqui didn't respond but she knew the older woman sympathized with that particular fear. It was something that would always be at the back of their minds—it was something they could never forget. Her thoughts finally came full circle, resting once again on Daryl. Beth still hadn't thanked him, not that 'thank you' amounted to much of anything these days. They were simply just words.

On the other hand, she did have something that could be appreciated. Jumping back to her feet, she headed over to the truck where they kept the food.

One of the many things she added to the food pile was her numerous cans of beans. Back in her apartment she really didn't do much cooking that wasn't out of a can or from the freezer, she never had the energy after one of her shifts. But at least she had a lot of nonperishable items for the end of the world. Snagging a can, Beth ignored the odd stares from the other campers and walked over to the Dixon tent.

Her heart was hammering in her chest as she approached their patch of land, even though neither of the brothers were anywhere to be seen. She lightly tossed the can from one hand to the other while she contemplated just leaving it by the fire pit. However, there was no guarantee that someone else wouldn't just walk off with it.

Beth was just about to wait till Daryl came back when she caught sight of him exiting the woods a ways away. He sauntered down the dirt road with his crossbow slung across his back—probably heading towards the quarry. It seemed to be as good of a chance as ever to speak to him without Daryl acting like his older brother's shadow.

Not wanting to lose sight of him, she jogged back to Jacqui.

"Look after the kids for me for a sec?"

"Where are you going?"

Beth innocently shrugged her shoulders. "Please?"

The silence stretched for a second before Jacqui bobbed her head in acceptance, but her gaze clearly read disapproval. Not that that was going to stop her.

…

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 **Mandatory disclaimer: Everything in the Walking Dead Universe—and its characters belongs to AMC and its creators. Similarities to the original characters or themes from the show and/or comics are used on here for entertainment purposes only. No profit is being made. No infringement intended.**

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 **A/N:** **Thank you for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4-AN

Hello Everyone!

No, I have not abandoned my Walking Dead story.

This story will NOT be taken down. However, updated and improved chapters, from 1-3, will be replaced, and a new chapter four will be uploaded. Stay tuned:)


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